ANY NHL debut is special, but circumstances conspired to make West Vancouver's Max Reinhart's first game in the big show almost perfect.
The 21 year old suited up for the Calgary Flames Saturday night, playing a regular shift in Rogers Arena against his hometown Canucks with cameras from the famed Hockey Night In Canada catching all the action.
"It was honestly everything I dreamed of," Reinhart told the North Shore News Tuesday from Calgary after completing a road trip through Denver. "I still can't really put a lot of my emotions into words - I think the best way to describe it was it was pretty much a dream come true."
Reinhart played for Calgary's AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat, Friday night and after the game was told to be on alert because the Flames might be looking for an extra body.
"Around 11: 30 (Friday night) I got a phone call telling me I was heading over to Vancouver to play with the Flames," said Reinhart, who spent a nervous night in Abbotsford and then made the short drive in to Vancouver Saturday morning to join the Flames at their swanky hotel. As the hours ticked by the excitement grew until he found himself pulling on a freshly pressed No. 59 jersey and taking his first strides on the ice in the arena he frequented as a kid.
"Growing up the dream was always to play in that building," he said. "Obviously as a kid growing up I always wanted to play for Vancouver but I'm not going to complain that I was playing with Calgary."
Having the iconic CBC hockey show on the scene just added to the dream-like moment.
"I grew up watching that every Saturday, that was just like an added bonus for me."
Reinhart was on the ice for the anthem and started the first shift of the game and that was when the dream finally took a bit of a turn into the land of harsh reality - through no fault of his own Reinhart found himself watching as Alex Burrows sped away into the Calgary zone and fed a pass to Dan Hamhuis who made it 1-0 just 34 seconds into the game.
It wasn't exactly the intro Reinhart was looking for but the rookie shook it off.
"I wasn't too worried about it," he said. "That kind of stuff happens in hockey - I had a full 59 minutes to go to make up for it."
Reinhart ended up playing more than 16 minutes while registering a -2 rating and three shots on goal as the Canucks rolled to a 5-2 win.
"I think as the game wore on I got a lot more comfortable," Reinhart said. "I was trying to find a bit of a comfort zone and after the first couple of shifts I kind of settled in nicely. I was pretty happy with the way I played."
Friends and family - including his mother Theresa and father Paul, himself a former NHL star - were also pretty happy with the way he played.
"I've got so many texts coming in that were congratulating me, telling me they were at the game or watching it on TV," he said. "Everyone who was in town quickly tried to get some tickets. I got a couple of really close friends some tickets and I got to go out for dinner with them after the game. It was overall just a really good night for me."
It's turning into a good week. Reinhart played well enough to earn another start and on Monday night he was in the lineup as the Flames beat the Avalanche 3-1 in Colorado, snapping a 13-game road losing streak. Reinhart played nearly 15 minutes in the game, moving over from left wing to his preferred centre position, and felt more comfortable than he did in the Vancouver game.
"For me, the more experience I get the more confidence I get," he said. "I think just learning the new systems, what the coaches kind of want from you - you get used to it with experience and all of a sudden you feel more comfortable out there."
Despite the win, the Flames are obviously in a rebuilding mode after trading away the face of their franchise but Reinhart said there's still a lot of talent on the team post-Jarome Iginla.
"I think there's still a lot of guys that you can learn from up here, there are a lot of veteran guys who have been around for a while," he said. He's hoping to stick around a while to soak up as much of that experience as he can.
"I'm just trying to battle to stay in the lineup every night, I think that's the way I've got to approach it," he said. "The big thing for me is just win puck battles, be strong along the boards, be good defensively and don't be a liability out there."
If nothing else, Reinhart's call-up allowed him to maintain the natural order in his hockey-mad family. Younger brother Griffin was picked fourth overall in the 2012 NHL draft but has yet to suit up for the New York Islanders.
"Griffin obviously will get a shot, I'm assuming, next year or maybe even later this year," said Max. "He's matured and grown so much from the start of this year."
Youngest brother Sam starred for the Kootenay Ice the past two years - he was the WHL's rookie of the year for the 201112 season - and is already being pegged as a potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft.
"Sam obviously has another year to go in junior but he's looking just as good," said Max. "I'm happy that both of them are going to get their shots fairly quickly here."
While he's happy to be the first Reinhart boy to follow his dad into the league, Max is looking forward to the day all three might find themselves on NHL ice together.
"That'd be pretty special," he said.
